Fene’s POV


    “Bravo,e here. This is your lunch.”


    The woman slowly walked past me and up the stairs. Then, she extended a partially peeled banana to Bravo, and the animal leaped into her hand. Bravo eagerly grabbed and bit into the banana. In Rowan’s hand, the big sugar glider appeared obedient and calm.


    “Thank you for finding him,” she said with a wide smile this time.


    “This is Fene, and this is Rowan,” Laird introduced us briefly.


    “Good job, Fene,” Rowan said with a smile.


    “I didn’t do anything, really,” I replied, shrugging modestly with a restrained smile. Truly.


    “Come inside.” Rowan invited us to follow her through a door across the room that Laird had entered earlier. We climbed the stairs until we reached a small room.


    “You’re lucky that it was me and Fene who found him,” she said behind Rowan.


    “Sorry. I think Dave forgot to lock the back door when he left earlier,” he muttered softly while stroking Bravo in his hand.


    “Be careful,” Laird advised the woman.


    “Yes, Laird. Thank you. Please, have a seat,” she gestured for us to sit on the sofa.


    I felt it was a family room transformed into a small office. There were three desks withputers on each. One desk even had three monitors lined up on it. Several stacks of papers andputer spare parts were scattered in front of each desk.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDra/ma.O(r)g!


    “Would you like me to make coffee?” Laird asked me, as if he were hosting guests.


    “You sound like a host, but I think I’ll pass on coffee. I’ve had too much today already,” I chuckled while adjusting my hair to cover the front of my shirt.


    “Just water, please,” I said with a brief grin.


    “Alright.” Laird nodded, chuckling softly.


    The woman named Rowan went upstairs, carrying Bravo. Laird went to the back kitchen to fetch drinks. Now I was alone again in a stranger’s house.


    My unease grew when I heard the roar of a motor from the back door. Soon after, I faintly heard Laird and a strange man. Sure enough, this time, a man followed Laird.


    “I hope you don’t mind an additional guest,” Laird said as he walked towards me and offered a ss of water.


    “Oh, wow, you didn’t mention your guest was an angel.” The man openly praised me with his bright eyes.


    The man was tall and slender, with reddish-brown hair tied back loosely. His chin was covered with a rather thick beard and mustache.


    “Meet Fene. Fene, meet Dave,” Laird introduced.


    I stood up and shook hands with Dave. He smiled broadly, revealing tworge front teeth that protruded like rabbit teeth.


    “Hi, Fene. Wee to our office,” he said enthusiastically.


    “Hey, Dave. I’m d to be here, though Laird has been acting mysterious and secretive about this office,” I said, ncing subtly at Laird.


    “Really? He’s always been a bit snobbish,” Dave concluded with augh.


    “I just wanted to surprise Fene,” Laird shrugged defensively.


    “Yes, and Bravo certainly surprised me,” I quipped.


    “Oh, how did you manage to meet Bravo before me today? Rowan and I searched for him all morning until I gave up and went out to buy cigarettes.”


    Dave walked over to one of the long desks with three monitors on it. He casually lit a cigarette, while Laird sat beside me on the sofa, sipping his water.


    From Laird’s demeanor, I realized howfortable and unabashed he seemed, as if this were his own home. He entered through the back door, fetched two sses of water from the kitchen, and now he was leaningfortably on the sofa beside me. Quite different from his rushed and stiff demeanor at the firm.


    “Fene found him in the basement. Rowan was there searching for Bravo too, so they met.” Laird ced his ss of mineral water down.


    “Ah, the basement indeed. I always forget to fix that door,” Dave said, exhaling smoke.


    “Don’t tell me you spent the whole day looking for Bravo instead of working on Project Z.” Laird grinned lopsidedly.


    “Not entirely. But Rowan couldn’t help me at all because she was busy looking for it.” He scratched the back of his head and yed with his tied-up hair.


    “Hasn’t his new cage been finished yet?” Laird asked.


    “Uh, yeah. I haven’t had time to go to the hardware store yet,” he grumbled.


    “Hey, you don’t mind if I smoke, miss?” he asked me.


    “No, go ahead, rx.” I shook my head.


    “Thanks,” he said before taking another inhale.


    “So, Fene,” Laird cleared his throat before continuing, “I hope you’re not surprised, but this is my dream now.”


    “We’re just starting out, but we’re growing steadily and gaining more clients. It’s slow progress, but we’re consistent in our dedication,” Laird exined slowly to me.


    “Yeah, go on.” I urged him to exin his dream to me as I sipped my water and ced it back on the table.


    “So, Dave, Rowan, and I were college friends at Harvard. Since college, we’ve been building an indie game developerpany called Rackers Bite. We’re mostly focusing on mobile games, but we’re also developing desktop app versions,” Laird exined.


    “Dave and Rowan are the programmers, while I handle administration and finance,” he said.


    “More like he’s the investor, Fen. He owns 80% of our shares,” Dave interjected briefly.


    “Yeah, making games takes a lot of time and money. That’s why I’ve been saving up funds from part of my sry,” he sighed deeply.


    “Dave and Rowan also work on side projects rted to IT during their free time. I just hope thispany really grows.” Laird sped his hands in front of his mouth.


    “Wow. I think this is amazing, Laird. So, you’re actually juggling two jobs as a CEO and awyer?” I batted my eyshes.


    “Think of it as a side business,” Laird said with a thin smile.


    “Which will soon not be just a side business because there’s a major studio interested in coborating with us, only if we cane up with a breakthrough game idea before next month’s presentation to them,” Dave shook his head and whistled.


    “Well, that’s the story.” Laird waved his hands in the air to show their small office.